Obama Compares Himself To Reagan, JFK...But Not Bill Clinton

In an interview Monday with the Reno Gazette-Journal editorial board, Sen. Barack Obama riffed on a range of political topics ranging from Katrina, the home mortgage crisis and, of course, fodder from the campaign trail.

But perhaps the most interesting offering was when he tried to place his candidacy into a historical context. Which elections does Obama see as analogous to 2008? And with which presidents does he share personal similarities? That would be John Kennedy in 1960 (hardly surprising) and Ronald Reagan in 1980 (more daring). But not, it should be noted, Bill Clinton in 1992.

In fact, Obama offered praise for the Gipper, lauding him for tapping into the country's concern with the growth and "excesses" of the federal government, and its desire to "return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship" -- hardly a welcomed interpretation within progressive circles. Said the Illinois Democrat:

"I don't want to present myself as some sort of singular figure. I think part of what is different is the times. I do think that, for example, the 1980 election was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. They felt like with all the excesses of the 60s and the 70s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think he tapped into what people were already feeling. Which is we want clarity, we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

Obama went on:

"I think Kennedy, 20 years earlier, moved the country in a fundamentally different direction. So I think a lot of it has to do with the times. I think we are in one of those fundamentally different times right now were people think that things, the way they are going, just aren't working."

(You can watch the full video: here -- the Reagan quote comes in around the 18:50 mark)

Obama's comment was part of a nearly hour long interview with the paper's editorial board. Seated in a high-back leather chair while the Gazette-Journal staff pressed him on different policy and political matters, the senator spoke in his customary slow, measured tone. He discussed 'Google for government,' a site he helped create that allows users can search a database of how federal dollars are spent.

"The only way you can control [the out-of-control spending]," Obama said, "is if there is some sense of shame and accountability. The more we increase accountability the more we reduce the special interests in Washington."

He claimed, as he has on the stump, that his health care plan was not "all that different" from his Democratic primary opponents. "All three of us differ fairly significantly with Republicans," said Obama, "who think that you can just provide people with a few more tax credits and somehow that is going to solve the problem."

And he offered stern criticism for the Bush administration, which, he argued, "did not necessarily believe in government as an agent of change." Unlike the president, he stated, "I want to make government cool again."

Comments

[MetricSystem]

More Reagan love from Obama's book (page 31):

"That Reagan's message found such a receptive audience spoke not only to his skills as a communicator; it also spoke to the failures of liberal government, during a period of economic stagnation, to give middle-class voters any sense that it was fighting for them. For the fact was government at every level had become to cavalier about spending taxpayer money. Too often bureaucracies were oblivious to the cost of their mandates. A lot of liberal rhetoric did seem to value rights and entitlements over duties and responsibilities. Reagan may have exaggerated the sins of the welfare state, and certainly liberals were right to complain that his domestic policies tilted heavily toward elites, with corporate raiders making tidy profits throughout the eighties while unions were busted and the income for the average working stiff flatlined.

Nevertheless, by promising to side with those who worked hard, obeyed the law, cared for their families, loved their country, Reagan offered Americans a sense of common purpose that liberals seemed no longer able to muster."

Ugh. Stick a fork in him, he's done.

[AnninCA]

I find his tactic of comparing himself to be arrogant.

[trailrunner9]

Kind of funny this gets buried off the main page in a low key fashion. Could you imagine if Hillary Clinton had made these comments. Half the front page would be take up with the headline.

[tbone99]

I hope Obama supporters will take heed - Reagan did the best he could to break the unions and with this talk of entrepeneurship( in other words each for himself) he echoes Reagen, tho' its a little bit hard when you're competing against multinatio­nals.Its the Horation Alger myth all over again that has served the rich to keep the citizens divided for way too long.

Face it -one guy out of a few million being wildly successful doesn't address the millions homeless,laid off, uninsured and evicted in this country.

Put that with his denigration of "fuzzy headed liberals" in another speech and I think BO is telling us very clearly who he considers his constituency.
And its not us, baby.

[Pdubya]

...funny, JFK and Reagan didn't have to compare themselves to anyone.

[Steamboater]

Reagan????? This is something I won't forget and not even mentioning Bill Clinton, who for all his excesses gave us a booming economy. What a stupid thing for Obama not to say. He doesn't get my vote.

[Parkhurst]

Give me a break. Obama claims he's the next JFK and MLK, and RFK . . . and now he's Ronald Reagan! Well, maybe that's more like it - total actor. This guy will say anything. Reagan didn't give a monkey's about working people. Do you remember the early Eighties?

How many democrats want to return to that and to trickle-down economics? This jerk's a slick used car salesman for the rich - "what do I have to say to get you into the BMW today?"

Now all the Obama staffers "working" this comments section are trying to sell you this bill of goods.

If we fall for this BS we will get what we deserve - another right-wing tool in the White House.

[Graywolf48]

Disclosure: I am not an Obama supporter. Nor a Hillary supporter. And I'm lukewarm on Edwards. Obama did not compare himself to Reagan other than Reagan ran at a time when Americans were looking for change, a different direction and that is what Reagan offered. Ergo, that is also what Obama is offering as the country is signaling it is again ready for change. That's it. He is not comparing himself personally to that doddering old fool that charmed America twice into voting against its own best interests.

[Bulbul]

Shouldn`t have compare himself with Regan, Obama is running as a democratic candidate not as republican. Most of the voters on the dem. side think very little of Regan. JFK and not Bill ?
Interesting !

Primary voting already has started in my state, I better remember to go and vote today for my candidate.­..

[Purple Girl]

Did I forget to mention Reagans intentionally ignoring the AIDS Epidemic, while thousand of US and millions around the world died??
Or the last major Savings & loan Scandals?
Iran Contra?
Funding Bin Ladin?
Failing to fund R&D for alternative Fuel sources- after a major oil crisis???

Obama is not stupid, nor is Hillary, nor is Edwards- they are just all into play this game too. No change in the game nor the rules. WE'RE SCREWED AGAIN!!!
STOP LOKING AT THE WRAPPER AND BITE INTO WHAT IS REALLY INSIDE-IT'S LEFT A BAD TASTE IN MY MOUTH- BUT GO AHEAD YOU TRY IT TOO.

[DELICIOUS]

REAGAN....­PULEEZE, ONE SENILE DENSE PRESIDENT WITH A GREEDY, HYPOCRITICAL SNOB WIFE WAS ENOUGH FOR A MILLION YEARS.

[Purple Girl]

REAGAN WAS A LINK IN THE CROOKED CHAIN THAT HAS LED US HERE!!!
AND JFK WAS DEAD BEFORE THE CIVIL RIGHTS AMENDMENT!!!
THE ONLY REAL DEM WORTH AFFLIATING THEMSELVES WITH IS THE ONE THAT WAS RUN OUT OF OFFICE BY THE MACHINE & THE DARK ONE-DICK!!!!
THE ONLY DEM WHO HAS HAD AT LEAST AN OUNCE
OF INTEGRITY AND HUMANITY IN THE LAST 40 YRS- JIMMY CARTER!

[Rock81]

I'm wondering, did you clowns even bother to read the article. He didn't compare himself to reagan. I don't think any self-respecting progressive would. He was just comparing the eras of then and now. The title of this article is completely wrong.

[independentrepublicrat]

Obama did not compare himself to either Reagan or JFK but he likened those eras of change to current times; there is a difference between what he actually said and what the title conveys. It seems like too many HuffPo writers intentionally sensationalize headlines by blatant mis-charac­terization­, while too many readers either have reading comprehension problems or don't understand the meanings of common words and are thus easily confused.

[sonofman]

As far as Obama being MLK.JFK. or RFK. Those of you who say he isn’t any of them, you are right! He is Barack Obama! Before MLK, JFK, or RFK SHOWED you who they were, you didn’t know them either. And if you recall history, many of them were attacked for what they believed as they tried to get America and the world to CHANGE for the better. They were accused of drug use, cheating on their wives, bad judgement, and even being un-American! Guilty or not, things were thrown at them to make them look to be unfit for your admiration and trust. Sound familiar? The American people still falling for the same ole tricks. Thats experience for ya!! They were each killed for what they believed. So its easy to love them now! They aren’t here to require anything of you!
And Reagan. I understand why he used his Presidential run as an example. But, I may have kept that one if I were him. Reagan may have been one of the top 5 worst Presidents in the history of America.